RATIONALE:
• Alexander County Schools believes that the fact that Standard 6 has been moved into Standard 1-5 supports the notion that a building level principal has the best grasp of the achievement and growth on an individual teacher.
• Our locally developed option, as outlined below, allows for more specific feedback than a blind review.
• Additionally, upon request, this option allows the individual teacher to gain feedback from a team or committee of raters strengthening their ability to grow (as well as the students) through the evaluation process.
• By their very nature, Fine Arts, Healthful Living, and World Language curriculums are very broad and are ill-defined by narrow points in time. Without the ability for discourse and discussion between the teacher and the rater, the impactive information demonstrating student growth and teacher impact are lost in the process.
• Our district has a team of Instructional Program Specialists in place to work with principals who may need support in understanding these highly specialized curriculum areas and growth in each of them.
Alexander County Schools will require middle and high school teachers whose classes are 60% in content areas of Arts Education, Healthful Living, World Languages, and Advancement Placement to participate in the locally developed option. Only two Alexander County Schools elementary teachers see students more than 45 minutes per week, and therefore, only those two schools will be required to participate in the locally developed option. Teachers are exempt from the ASW process if they are on approved extended leave for 20 or more consecutive days in a year-long calendar or 10 or more consecutive days in a semester block schedule.
Local Student Growth Measurement Plan
1. Clear Connection to the Content Standards
a. Teachers will select five (5) objectives from the appropriate standards for their content area. (NC Standard Course of Study-Essential Standards or College Board). Each curriculum content strand shall be represented with at least one objective.
b. Evidence and/or assessments will include multiple objectives that are not duplicated from the appropriate content standards.
c. Evidence and/or assessments must demonstrate a level of academic rigor appropriate to the level of the course/subject.
d. Objectives will be recorded on the "Add Goal" portion of teacher's Professional Development Plan (PDP) located at the bottom of the PDP portion of the NCEES platform.
e. Teachers will conference with their principal at the due date of the PDP, sharing which objectives were selected and how the teacher will capture growth in two points of time.
f. Teachers who teach on a semester plan will complete three objectives in the first semester and two objectives in the second semester.
2. Evidence Must Focus on Student Work
a. Evidence collected by Alexander County Schools' teachers will focus on student work, not on teacher performance.
b. Evidence that demonstrates achievement (a skill, product, or performance) must have a point of evidence prior to the paramount achievement demonstrating growth between two points in time.
3. Measuring Growth
a. Growth will be measured between two points in time. It must be evident to the reviewer and explained by the teacher the growth that has occurred between point 1 and point 2.
b. The student's task must align with the verb in the objective and be clear to the rater.
c. Alexander County Schools will use the current ASW model Evidence Collection Rating Form as a tool to average of all five objectives reviewed to inform the teacher's rating of "Does Not Meet, Meets, or Exceeds Growth."
4. Rater Qualifications/Rating Process
a. The principal will rate and evaluate the student growth evidence presented as a part of the semester-end/year-end conference for the teacher's Professional Development Plan using the current ASW model Evidence Collection Rating Form. Evidence and supporting documentation presented to the principal must support that the individual student or whole-class has grown from one point in time to another. Principals may elect to offer written feedback (in addition to verbal feedback) to be recorded on the teacher's year-end Professional Development Plan review.
b. Teachers on a semesterly schedule will have a rating/review of three objectives at the conclusion of the first semester and a rating/review of the final two objectives at the conclusion of the second semester. Teachers on a yearly schedule will have a rating/review of all five objectives at the conclusion of the academic year.
c. If the principal does not feel they can offer effective feedback during the summative evaluation for the teacher and/or the teacher would like additional feedback, the teacher may elect to have a committee of at least three like-subject/content raters review and rate the evidence submitted. Where reasonably possible, the raters will have blind knowledge of the teacher being evaluated.
d. Alexander County Schools will randomly select ten percent (10%) of all ASW submissions for an audit by the Central Office Instructional Leadership Team at the end of the year. Principals will be notified to submit all artifacts and written documentation to central office by the last working day for teachers. Central Office Instructional Leadership Team will meet in June to review the documentation from the randomly selected teachers.
e. Achievement, observed as a part of growth, will be considered in the total evaluation.
f. As a part of the teacher's year-end summative evaluation, all evidence submitted and rated will be discussed between the principal and the participating teacher.
5. Results Sharing
a. Prescriptive feedback will be offered by principals and/or the rater committee to the individual teacher and recorded/noted as a part of their Professional Development Plan review.
b. Alexander County Schools will share teacher-level growth results from our local option plan with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education as requested.
c. A spreadsheet listing of all teachers required to complete the local option for ASW and their ratings will be kept by Alexander County Schools Human Resource Department annually.